Nov 1, 2010

It’s not entirely fair to say that cultural elites like Tom Brokaw deny Bible prophecy; the former NBC News anchor has probably never commented on it publicly. But he certainly lives in a community whose worldview is anything but biblical. Many entertainment and media figures of course have denied the validity of the Bible and in their world, a biblical scenario for the end of the world is reserved for movie treatments at best.

The latest issue of Foreign Affairs, one of those high-brow think-tank journals, has an article entitled, “A U.S.-Iranian-Turkish Alliance?” On the copyright page of this magazine is a “Board of Advisors.” Brokaw, Colin Powell, and harsh Israeli critic John Mearsheimer sit on the board. Not exactly a gathering of conservatives.

That is beyond outrageous. It’s well documented just how far down the road of terrorism and mass murder the Iranian government is. And recent developments vis a vis Turkey — turning sharply hostile to Israel — make such an alliance a new Axis of Evil.

It is important to understand that cultural elites like Brokaw move in leftist circles; their worldviews are informed by failed liberal policies. Before one gets into the articles in Foreign Affairs, one notices ads for The Carter Center; a gathering at the Council on Foreign Relations (sponsored by The International Bank of Azerbaijan); and The World Economic Forum.

In this particular issue, there is also a piece on Israel’s nuclear weapons program, which of course the country has never officially admitted to. Yet authors Avner Cohen and Marvin Miller encourage the Jewish state to be less “opaque” about its weapons. This way, the authors allege, Israel can “burnish its credentials as a responsible nuclear power.”

We all know what happens when Israel follows the world’s advice; the Gaza pullout is a prime example. Far from making Israel any friends in the international community — which encouraged the pullout — the Israelis have both incurred the wrath of said community for not going further, and hastened a terror base used by Hamas in Gaza.

A review essay of a new book by Stephen Kinzer, Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future — the review is by Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish journalist — argues that the US should loosen its stance on Iran.

Kinzer cites the comment that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. His answer of course, is that the US policy toward Iran is insane and needs to be re-worked.

This is insanity: Kinzer’s view.

Not even a decade after 9/11, American resolve in this vicious war with jihadists is weakening to dangerous levels. One can look back and understand that the attacks themselves were merely part of a much wider, and long-planned, strategy on multiple fronts.

The idea that America should reach out to Turkey and Iran is no different than advocating for American talks with Hitler in 1943.

Further, Kinzer argues that at least Turkey and Iran have “a century’s worth of experience struggling for political freedom, during which they ‘developed an understanding of democracy, and a longing for it.’”

This is mind-boggling. A longing for democracy? Both are totalitarian regimes that suppress all forms of free expression. Turkey and Iran are surely two of the most draconian forms of government on the planet. Yet Kinzer and his friends (including, by extension, the board of advisors and editorial staff of Foreign Affairs) advocate trying to make peace with the harshest of enemies.

If Israel strikes Iran, the backlash in the form of terrorism worldwide will be severe, thus garnering more wrath for the Jewish state.

Plus, for prophecy students, any alliance involving Turkey and Iran, two northern powers hostile to Israel, invites comparisons for Gog-Magog.

One wonders what folks like Tom Brokaw will think when the great end-times scenarios described in the Bible actually happen.